Neuronal signalling of fear memory. Academic Article

abstract

• The learning and remembering of fearful events depends on the integrity of the amygdala, but how are fear memories represented in the activity of amygdala neurons? Here, we review recent electrophysiological studies indicating that neurons in the lateral amygdala encode aversive memories during the acquisition and extinction of Pavlovian fear conditioning. Studies that combine unit recording with brain lesions and pharmacological inactivation provide evidence that the lateral amygdala is a crucial locus of fear memory. Extinction of fear memory reduces associative plasticity in the lateral amygdala and involves the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Understanding the signalling of aversive memory by amygdala neurons opens new avenues for research into the neural systems that support fear behaviour.

authors

• Maren, Stephen

published proceedings

• Nat Rev Neurosci

altmetric score

• 9

author list (cited authors)

• Maren, S., & Quirk, G. J.

citation count

• 1133

complete list of authors

• Maren, Stephen||Quirk, Gregory J

publication date

• November 2004

publisher

• Springer Nature  Publisher

published in

• Nature Reviews Neuroscience  Journal

keywords

• Amygdala
• Animals
• Extinction, Psychological
• Fear
• Humans
• Memory
• Neural Inhibition
• Neuronal Plasticity
• Neurons
• Signal Transduction

PubMed Central ID

• 15496862

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1038/nrn1535

start page

• 844

end page

• 852

volume

• 5

issue

• 11

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nrn1535